Prime 'hopper weather could affect hay prices

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

July 19, 2001 -- Large populations of grasshoppers, and a sudden decrease in rain, has many hay harvesters anxious about what the future holds. Their concern could become a concern for those who buy hay to winter their livestock.

"Overall, I'd say the hay crop is weak because of the grasshoppers," said hay harvester Dan Godwin. "I think the second cuttings will be hampered by grasshoppers."

Godwin, who plants grass and harvests hay in East-Central Texas region, noted the grasshoppers were mostly along fence rows earlier this year, "but now that it has turned drier and hotter, they are starting to move out into the meadows.

"We've got a slew of grasshoppers, and if people don't spray, the price of hay will be forced up," he said.

Godwin feels many have given up on trying to control the insect. "People are lying down on (the job of) spraying. It does do good to spray, but they've got to spend the money and get out there often."

Insecticide can cost producers about $6 to $8 per acre, noted Dr. Allen Knutson, Extension entomologist, Dallas. "And since there is not much profit margin in hay production, many just hope the grasshoppers will go away. But they don't."

In the northeast area of Hopkins County, dairy farmer Randy Melton said he has sprayed, "but they come back."

At the Melton farm every morning, the grasshoppers appear solid on many of the metal objects, such as fence posts, wire, and livestock trailer.

Theresa Melton noted every morning the insects cover the wire cable and metal posts around the farm's drip shed and catch pen. "I feed the bull in there and when he leaves, there is some grain on the floor. In no time you can look in there and the floor is solid yellow (with grasshoppers)."

Knutson figured the grasshoppers are attracted to metal - a conductor of heat.

"My guess is they are just trying to warm up," he said.

"Grasshoppers are a cold-blooded insect so they depend on other things to heat them up. When the grasshoppers are warmed, it helps them digest ... so they can eat more," he added.

The grasshoppers have thinned dairyman Melton's hay meadow and damaged his pea crop. He said he has lost two acres of peas, and the corn stalks are stripped.

"This is the fourth year I've fought grasshoppers, so I think next year I'm not even going to bother with planting a garden," he said.

Knutson said because grasshoppers thrive in dry weather, the populations over the last several years have grown. "Especially if the weather is dry in the fall, when grasshoppers start laying their eggs in the soil, we can expect a large population in the spring, which we had this year. If it stays dry through the fall, the more eggs they will lay. They can't lay eggs in the mud."

Further north, near the Lamar and Red River County line, Dyann Foster agreed there are "plenty of grasshoppers this year" but said they are not affecting her farm's hay crop ... "yet."

She noted they were battling what too much rain has done to the hay crop.

"We had a lot of flooding earlier this year," she said. "Because it was so wet, we've got lots of weeds. Then the ryegrass didn't die off soon enough. ... We've got a total of 250 acres, but this year we only cut 100 acres."

The first cutting of mostly ryegrass went into square bales which she is selling for $2.50 a bale. But from their 25-acre Bermudagrass meadow, the second cutting square hay is expected to around $4.50 a bale.

"I'm real happy with the hay we've cut," Foster added. "I consider us lucky. We've got good grass because we're in bottomland. Some of my neighbors have only got about half of the production they had last year."

Foster added that the pastures her cattle graze have not been affected as bad by the additional soil moisture, nor the grasshoppers. "Actually, I think we had more (grasshoppers) last year."

But as a cautionary measure, she added, "I wouldn't sell my round bales right now until I know I have enough for winter, or late summer if it comes to that."

Godwin, down in the Henderson County area, noted the grass he has been baling "is actually better than I thought." He explained a recent cutting tested 14 to 15 percent protein, but it was cut "about six days before it was due." The shorter grass often has a higher protein content.

"When cut on time, my hay is running about a 12 to 14 percent (protein)," Godwin said.

The hay man also noted he will take a lower protein content to get more quantity "to cheapen the price per bale."

The price of hay may increase as the isolated patches of grasshoppers move around the region.

"It seems they have eaten all the leaves off the weeds and bushes, and now they're moving to the grass," noted Melton, the Hopkins County dairyman.

The Weekly Texas Hay Report issued Friday, July 13, noted hay trading throughout the state was moderate. Hot dry weather is hurting many hay fields, causing many producers to irrigate.

"Dry land hay yields have been less than anticipated as hay growth average at best as fields in need of rain," the report read.

In North, Central, and East Texas regions, the report said small squares of hay selling for $3 to $4; round bales are selling for $35 to $50 per roll.